Monthly Archives: March 2016

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Help keep heat on Mars Express through data mining

Mars Express

31 March 2016

Mars Express has been orbiting the Red Planet for 12 years. While its controllers know the Spacecraft inside out, additional valuable insights may well be hidden within the mounds of telemetry the mission generates – inspiring the first of ESA’s new data mining competitions, open to all.

“The goal of this Mars Express Power Challenge is to predict Mars Express’s thermal power consumption during the martian year ahead, based on its past telemetry,” explains Joerg Mueller, a Young Graduate Trainee in ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team.

“Our intended audience for the competition is the international data mining and machine learning community – whether students, research groups or companies”.

“This is the first of a number of planned competitions, in an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of the approach and to establish a community of participants.

“We’ve established a host website called Kelvins, named after the temperature unit of measurement, with the idea that data mining should aim to reach the lowest possible error in each case – down to absolute zero.”

This first Kelvins competition was developed in close cooperation with the Advanced Mission Concepts and Technologies Office in ESA’s ESOC control centre, which applies new data analysis and computing techniques to help run space missions.

Mars Express spacecraft

“For the challenge, teams will receive three full martian years of Mars Express telemetry,” adds research fellow Redouane Boumghar. “This will be gigabytes of data – the numerous sensors on the spacecraft can generate new data points every 30 seconds or so.

“Mars Express takes electrical power from its solar array to not only run its platform units and instruments but also to supply actively controlled heaters to maintain an optimal working temperature for the spacecraft.

“As spacecraft systems age, it takes more power to accomplish such tasks, and less power is freely available.

View of Mars

“One of our hopes from the Mars Express Power Challenge is that the mission team can use the resulting predictions to improve power consumption so that Mars Express can end up running longer.”

“Participants don’t need to be space specialists to take part,” adds Dario. “What is termed ‘domain knowledge’ can indeed be useful, but the datasets themselves serve as the starting point.”

The Mars Express Power Challenge takes place between April and August 2016. Check the detailed timeline here.

Once upon a time, only world superpowers could launch satellites. Now university students can do it as well! The ESA Education Office Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) programme is designed to train the next generation of aerospace professionals. This year’s campaign is entering a critical stage, as the three chosen student teams get their satellites ready for launch in April.

The satellites designed and built by the student teams, arrived in French Guyana on Friday 25 March Upon arrival, they were given a security escort from the airport to the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), Europe’s spaceport near the town of Kourou. The student teams arrived in the French Guyana on 28 March.

The satellites themselves are CubeSats. This class of small satellites have helped revolutionise access to space. Made of standard components, as the name suggests they come in modular dimensions of just 10x10x10cm in size. As part of the FYS! Programme, three university teams were chosen by ESA’s Education Office and have been working hard to perfect their spacecraft.

OUFTI-1 from the University of Liege, Belgium, will test a new communications subsystem; e-st@r-II from the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, will demonstrate an attitude control system using measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field; and AAUSAT4 from the University of Aalborg, Denmark, will operate an automated ocean vessel identification system.

E-st@r II team posing in front of the P-POD

The students themselves have been made to work to professional standards, giving them the experience of what it is like to work on a real space mission. This helps build the expertise that Europe needs to continue as a world leader in space.

The FYS! CubeSat teams met in the early hours of 29 March for the security check-in procedures necessary to access the Centre Spatial Guyanais. They were then given the mandatory safety briefing offered to all those that work on the CSG site. Then they set to work preparing their satellites contained in their P-POD – the device that will release them into orbit after launch. Meanwhile, the details of the fit-check operations were coordinated among all involved parties, and the mechanical and electrical fit-checks were performed successfully, confirming that the P-POD’s mechanical and electrical interfaces fit perfectly with its mounting location onboard the Soyuz launcher. The lateral access ports of the P-POD were then removed, and all 3 CubeSats were inspected successfully by all student teams.

The day ended with an agreed working plan for the upcoming three working days and a post fit-check meeting with Arianespace.

One of the students commented: “It is amazing to learn that we are in one of the huge high bay clean rooms at CSG with our small satellites, the same room that is used for the final launch preparation activities of big satellites. To see the CubeSat being readied for launch directly at the launch site is worth the long and tiring journey to Kourou.”

AAUSAT4 team with P-POD

On 30 March the students removed the so-called Remove Before Flight pins and successfully verified that the CubeSats were ready for launch. Afterwards, the lateral access ports of the P-POD were put back in place. The next time the students will have contact with their respective CubeSats will be through the communication link after the satellites are deployed into orbit. The next activities consist in completing the application of a special thermal-optical tape on the outside of the P-POD, which will ensure the unpowered CubeSats are shielded from extreme thermal radiation during the launch phase. Finally, the planning for the next weeks will consist in integrating the P-POD with the rest of the launcher.

Launch is scheduled for 22 April, when the Soyuz rocket will carry the satellites into space. The student teams will be in Europe, at their university, where they will be ready to receive the first radio signal of their CubeSats from space.

OUFTI-1 team

“We are now entering the most critical phase of the mission. Everything must be made ready for orbit. For the teams, it is the most intense but also the most rewarding time – the experience of a lifetime. They have designed and built their satellite, and have interacted in long reviews, meetings, and test sessions with ESA specialists to confirm the suitability of their satellites to perform the mission for which they were designed. Now these students are experiencing the full immersion of working at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou – the equivalent of 100% pure adrenaline that will accompany them for many years. I am certain that decades after they start working as space professionals they will still have strong memories of their visit at Europe’s Spaceport, and of their being a part of an important launch!” said Piero Galeone, Head of Tertiary Education at ESA.

More information:

‘Fly Your Satellite!’ is an ESA educational programme run in close collaboration with European universities and aimed at complementing students’ academic education. It provides university students across Europe with the unique opportunity to gain practical experience in key phases of a challenging, real satellite project – a CubeSat – from integration, test and verification, launch and operations. Through Fly Your Satellite! and other educational projects, ESA inspires, engages and better prepares students to undertake scientific and technological careers, particularly in the space sector. Fly Your Satellite! is part of the newly established ESA Academy programme.

Once upon a time, only world superpowers could launch satellites. Now university students can do it as well! The ESA Education Office Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) programme is designed to train the next generation of aerospace professionals. This year’s campaign is entering a critical stage, as the three chosen student teams get their satellites ready for launch in April.

The satellites designed and built by the student teams, arrived in French Guyana on Friday 25 March Upon arrival, they were given a security escort from the airport to the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), Europe’s spaceport near the town of Kourou. The student teams arrived in the French Guyana on 28 March.

The satellites themselves are CubeSats. This class of small satellites have helped revolutionise access to space. Made of standard components, as the name suggests they come in modular dimensions of just 10x10x10cm in size. As part of the FYS! Programme, three university teams were chosen by ESA’s Education Office and have been working hard to perfect their spacecraft.

OUFTI-1 from the University of Liege, Belgium, will test a new communications subsystem; e-st@r-II from the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, will demonstrate an attitude control system using measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field; and AAUSAT4 from the University of Aalborg, Denmark, will operate an automated ocean vessel identification system.

E-st@r II team posing in front of the P-POD

The students themselves have been made to work to professional standards, giving them the experience of what it is like to work on a real space mission. This helps build the expertise that Europe needs to continue as a world leader in space.

The FYS! CubeSat teams met in the early hours of 29 March for the security check-in procedures necessary to access the Centre Spatial Guyanais. They were then given the mandatory safety briefing offered to all those that work on the CSG site. Then they set to work preparing their satellites contained in their P-POD – the device that will release them into orbit after launch. Meanwhile, the details of the fit-check operations were coordinated among all involved parties, and the mechanical and electrical fit-checks were performed successfully, confirming that the P-POD’s mechanical and electrical interfaces fit perfectly with its mounting location onboard the Soyuz launcher. The lateral access ports of the P-POD were then removed, and all 3 CubeSats were inspected successfully by all student teams.

The day ended with an agreed working plan for the upcoming three working days and a post fit-check meeting with Arianespace.

One of the students commented: “It is amazing to learn that we are in one of the huge high bay clean rooms at CSG with our small satellites, the same room that is used for the final launch preparation activities of big satellites. To see the CubeSat being readied for launch directly at the launch site is worth the long and tiring journey to Kourou.”

AAUSAT4 team with P-POD

On 30 March the students removed the so-called Remove Before Flight pins and successfully verified that the CubeSats were ready for launch. Afterwards, the lateral access ports of the P-POD were put back in place. The next time the students will have contact with their respective CubeSats will be through the communication link after the satellites are deployed into orbit. The next activities consist in completing the application of a special thermal-optical tape on the outside of the P-POD, which will ensure the unpowered CubeSats are shielded from extreme thermal radiation during the launch phase. Finally, the planning for the next weeks will consist in integrating the P-POD with the rest of the launcher.

Launch is scheduled for 22 April, when the Soyuz rocket will carry the satellites into space. The student teams will be in Europe, at their university, where they will be ready to receive the first radio signal of their CubeSats from space.

OUFTI-1 team

“We are now entering the most critical phase of the mission. Everything must be made ready for orbit. For the teams, it is the most intense but also the most rewarding time – the experience of a lifetime. They have designed and built their satellite, and have interacted in long reviews, meetings, and test sessions with ESA specialists to confirm the suitability of their satellites to perform the mission for which they were designed. Now these students are experiencing the full immersion of working at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou – the equivalent of 100% pure adrenaline that will accompany them for many years. I am certain that decades after they start working as space professionals they will still have strong memories of their visit at Europe’s Spaceport, and of their being a part of an important launch!” said Piero Galeone, Head of Tertiary Education at ESA.

More information:

‘Fly Your Satellite!’ is an ESA educational programme run in close collaboration with European universities and aimed at complementing students’ academic education. It provides university students across Europe with the unique opportunity to gain practical experience in key phases of a challenging, real satellite project – a CubeSat – from integration, test and verification, launch and operations. Through Fly Your Satellite! and other educational projects, ESA inspires, engages and better prepares students to undertake scientific and technological careers, particularly in the space sector. Fly Your Satellite! is part of the newly established ESA Academy programme.

President and CEO again honored for leadership and vision in manufacturing excellence for the food and beverage industry

FAIRFAX, Va. – March 30, 2016 – InfinityQS International, Inc., the global authority on real-time quality and Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence, announces that its president and CEO, Michael Lyle, has been recognized on the 2016 “Food Logistics Champions: Rock Stars of the Supply Chain” list. For the second consecutive year, Food Logistics has honored Lyle for his leadership and vision in manufacturing excellence for the food and beverage industry.

A leading publication, Food Logistics conceived of the award to recognize influential individuals in the food/beverage industry whose achievements, hard work, and vision have shaped and continue to attain milestones in safety, efficiency, productivity, and innovation throughout the global food supply chain.

“Our industry benefits from the vision and dedication of early pioneers and contemporary entrepreneurs alike who understand the uniquely integrated relationship between people and the global food supply chain,” said Lara L. Sowinski, editor-in-chief, Food Logistics. “From farmers to transportation Providers and others who play a part in the global food supply chain, this award is Food Logistics’ way of celebrating the talented trailblazers and inspirational mentors whose work deserves acknowledgement and appreciation.”

With more than 25 years of experience, Lyle founded InfinityQS in 1989 to meet the need for an automated tool to analyze manufacturing quality data. As president and CEO, Lyle is responsible for guiding the overall direction of the company and continuously developing quality solutions to help clients meet their most pressing industry challenges.

“Customer safety is a top priority, especially if a manufacturer’s product is consumed,” said Michael Lyle, president and CEO, InfinityQS. “When quality issues like foreign objects, contamination, and foodborne illness threaten this safety – as seen with the recent recalls by Nestlé, Corona, Mars, and Bumble Bee – it can be devastating. The fact that even these well-respected brands can’t escape recalls should emphasize the importance of driving quality and food safety throughout the entire supply chain. Achieving true visibility is the only way to guarantee consumer safety.”

Individuals who earned a place within the “Food Logistics Champions: Rock Stars of the Supply Chain” list will be profiled in the March 2016 issue of Food Logistics, as well as online at www.foodlogistics.com.

About Food LogisticsFood Logistics is published by AC Business Media Inc., a business-to-business media company that provides targeted content and comprehensive, integrated advertising and promotion opportunities for some of the world’s most recognized B2B brands. Its diverse portfolio serves the construction, logistics, supply chain and other industries with print, digital and custom products, events and social media.

About InfinityQS International, Inc.InfinityQS International, Inc.® is the global authority on Manufacturing Intelligence and enterprise quality. The company’s Manufacturing Intelligence platform, ProFicient, delivers real-time visibility from the shop floor, across the enterprise and into the supply chain, allowing top manufacturers to take control of quality. Powered by a centralized statistical process control (SPC) analytical engine, ProFicient manufacturing quality software leverages Manufacturing Intelligence to help global manufacturers improve product quality, decrease costs, maintain compliance and make smarter, data-driven business decisions. Headquartered near Washington, D.C., with offices in Seattle, London, Koblenz, Beijing, and Shanghai, InfinityQS was founded in 1989 and now services more than 40,000 active licenses with over 2,500 of the world’s top manufacturers including Kraft Foods, Ball Corporation, Boston Scientific, Graham Packaging, and Medtronic. For more information, visit www.infinityqs.com.

Woking, Surrey: 31/3/16 – Wick Hill, WatchGuard’s longest serving value added distributor, announces that it is now shipping WatchGuard’s latest release, the highest performing Firebox® M4600 and M5600 Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances. In addition to top performance, WatchGuard’s M4600/M5600 firewalls offer flexible port modularity, and redundant power supplies, making them a perfect fit for organizations with larger and often dISPersed environments that require fast speed and flexibility, such as distributed enterprises.

WatchGuard M4600 Firebox

Top performance paired with speed, flexibility, and affordability make these appliances ideal for taking the lead in distributed, hub-and-spoke type deployment scenarios. Typically deployed at the corporate headquarters, these appliances serve as the “hub” appliance, responsible for managing and securing all communications between the head office and all remote employee and small business sites.

“Organizations need high performance UTM security solutions with fast speeds to quickly scale and operate seamlessly across their network,” said Brendan Patterson, director of Product Management at WatchGuard. “They shouldn’t have to sacrifice performance for security – anywhere in their network. Our Fireboxes consolidate critical network and security functions into a single, centrally managed UTM platform that is easy to set up, deploy and manage.”

Tony Evans, WatchGuard product sales manager at Wick Hill, commented: “The new M4600/M5600 appliances offer enterprise grade security at unbeatable value. This is an exciting new product for WatchGuard customers and the channel.”

The Firebox M4600/M5600 appliances provide greater port density options that enable IT professionals to add additional network modules with more fiber or copper ports. Each appliance has two available slots for expansion modules, and options for 4x10Gb fiber, 8x1Gb copper, or 8x1Gb fiber. Network modularity empowers IT pros to customize the port configuration to meet their needs, while ensuring the flexibility to adapt the firewall as their network evolves.

Standard with all WatchGuard appliances is access to Dimension, the company’s award-winning, actionable threat intelligence platform. Dimension aggregates data from all WatchGuard appliances across a customer’s network and translates that data into visually rich and actionable information. With Dimension, customers can easily see not only what is going on in their network but proactively take steps, faster than ever before, to update their security policy immediately, right from the reporting dashboards, to stop Malicious sites, applications and users.

Wick Hill is particularly focused on providing a wide range of value added support for its channel partners. This includes a strong lead generation and conversion programme, technical and consultancy support for reseller partners in every stage of the sales process, and extensive training. Wick Hill Group is part of Rigby Private Equity, a subsidiary of Rigby Group Investments, an independent company within Rigby Group plc. As such, Wick Hill has its headquarters in the UK, an office in Germany and an office in Austria. Wick Hill is also able to offer services to channel partners in thirteen European countries and worldwide, through its association with Zycko, as part of RPE.